Role of chemokines and interferons in neural progenitor cell function

疾病或损伤后中枢神经系统的再生极为有限，经常导致严重损伤。一种替代受损或死亡的神经系统细胞的潜在疗法是使用神经干细胞。神经干细胞存在于中枢神经系统中，经常试图修复神经系统损伤，但未能修复。本项目旨在研究调节神经干细胞功能的因素，包括可能调节其迁移能力或成为合适的神经细胞类型的因素。特别令人感兴趣的是被称为趋化因子的因子，它调节细胞迁移以及具有各种其他作用。此外，干扰素是一种炎性分子，存在于受损的神经系统中，我们已经证明它会影响神经干细胞的功能，它可能与趋化因子相互作用，也将被研究。除了检测这些因子对神经干细胞的影响外，它们在这些细胞中使用的信号通路也将被确定。

Regeneration of the central nervous system following disease or injury is extremely limited and frequently results in substantial impairment. A potential therapy to replace damaged or killed nervous system cells is the use of neural stem cells. Neural stem cells are present in the central nervous system and frequently attempt, but fail to repair nervous system damage. This project aims to examine factors that regulate neural stem cell function including factors that may regulate their ability to migrate or become appropriate neural cell types. Of particular interest are factors known as chemokines that regulate cell migration as well as have a variety of other effects. In addition, interferons, which are inflammatory molecules present in the damaged nervous system and that we have shown affect neural stem cell function, may interact with chemokines and will also be examined. In addition to examining the effects of these factors on neural stem cells, the signalling pathways they use in these cells will also be determined.